Keystone Potato Products, a potato distributor in Pennsylvania, has received the 2024 Green Plant of the Year award from Food Processing Magazine. Each year, readers nominate a plant that exemplifies a commitment to a sustainable food and beverage manufacturing future.
The 2024 award honors the company's commitment to environmental sustainability, innovation, and eco-friendly food production processes. Keystone is focused on implementing sustainability at every phase of the potato planting and harvesting processes to help yield healthy crops each year. Established in 2003 by the Masser Family of Companies, Keystone represents a collective union of over 40 potato growers from the Mid-Atlantic region.
Fresh cut peeling and cutting room.
The company is recognized as one of the most sustainable food processing plants in the eastern United States. The facility employs technology and eco-conscious processes across its three main operations:
- A potato dehydration line that transforms off-grade and poor-quality potatoes—destined for landfills—into potato flakes and flour.
- A fresh-cut plant that produces a wide variety of fresh-cut potato products, including fries, dice, slices, wedges, and whole peeled potatoes.
- Two state-of-the-art automated potato packaging lines for large retail partners.
To minimize the facility's reliance on traditional energy sources, the plant is powered by methane gas from the nearby Commonwealth Environmental Systems landfill—one of Pennsylvania's largest and fastest-growing landfills. The methane powers a boiler that supplies steam, hot water, and heat to the plant,
Keystone's environmental efforts also include unique water resourcing. The plant draws water from an abandoned underground coal mine, bringing to the surface water impaired by iron and manganese. The company operates a municipal water treatment facility to purify the water, making it suitable for drinking and food processing. Once the water is used in production, it is treated through an anaerobic digestion process and released into a nearby stream, ultimately contributing cleaner water to the Chesapeake Bay.
Left: employee working on the dehydrated potato rollers; right: whole peeled potatoes awaiting to be sent to be trimmed.
Additionally, Keystone has achieved a zero-waste milestone. All peel, bin, and mash waste generated by its potato processing lines are repurposed as feed for local Pennsylvania cattle farmers, ensuring no potato by-products are sent to landfills.
"We are honored to receive the Green Plant of the Year award for 2024," said Dave Masser, CEO of Masser Family Companies and a member of Keystone Potato Products Board of Directors. "Our team is committed to finding innovative ways to protect the environment while producing high-quality potato products. This award motivates us to keep striving for additional sustainability solutions."
For more information:
Kathleen Triou
Fresh Solutions Network
Tel: +1 (209) 627-6800
[email protected]
https://www.freshsolutionsnet.com/
https://www.sidedelights.com/
https://grownwhereitmatters.com/
https://www.keystonepotato.com/